It wasn't a normal start to my morning: swallowing MDMA and getting inside a brain scanner. But there was a reason for subjecting myself to this rollercoaster ride. I was part of an experiment to discover how ecstasy affects the brain and how it might one day be used to help treat people with post traumatic stress disorder. Early results suggest that the drug could make negative memories less painful. Graham Lawton

Slightly reminiscent of the Matrix, but with only one pill. It could be a placebo (vitamin C) or it could be a dose of MDMA. I don't know, the doctor doesn't know – in fact nobody knows. But I found out soon enough. Soon after taking it – and before the effects took hold – I was put into an fMRI brain scanner where I remained for 90 minutes. "We wanted to capture both the onset of the drug and the peak," says principal investigator Robin Carhart-Harris of Imperial College London.